CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A 44-year-old man who brought women from Mexico to work in North Carolina as veritable sex slaves will spend the next 24 years in prison, authorities say.

Authorities said Jorge Flores Rojas, an undocumented Mexican national, was sentenced to prison after he pleaded guilty to charges he forced women as young as 16 to work as prostitutes, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said Wednesday.

Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan compared the lives those women were forced to lead in Charlotte, N.C., with slavery.

"We've got people who are preying on young girls and forcing them to work as sex slaves," Ryan said. "These poor girls have sex with 20 men, one right after the other. It's horrible. It's not prostitution in the traditional sense -- it's slavery."

In addition to his prison sentence, Rojas must register as a sex offender and pay an unidentified woman $117,000 in restitution. He will be deported following the completion of his sentence, authorities told the Observer.

Rojas, who pleaded guilty to charges of sex trafficking of minors and transporting an adult across state lines for sex, plans to appeal his sentence.